


No Man's Drabbles

by HonestScribe



Category: No Man's Sky (Video Game)
Genre: Alien Character(s), Alien Flora & Fauna, Drabble Collection, Exploration, Gen, Outer Space, Science Fiction, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-30
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:40:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22481947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HonestScribe/pseuds/HonestScribe
Summary: Some drabbles I wrote to battle writer's block. This micro form of storytelling is so fun that I will be adding more. Keep interloping and enjoy!Note: Some of the planets may differ from those seen in the game proper. These drabbles may or may not take place in the same universe as my long-fic, Euclid Skies.
Comments: 25
Kudos: 15





	1. Dead World

"Another dead world," the Traveller sighed. Other people always made the interesting discoveries. The other day (day, night, were there such distinctions in space?), he met a Vy'keen who found an entire world of living gems and had the videos to prove it. He scanned the two rocks at his feet, ignoring the larger ones just ten yards away, and re-entered his cockpit, blasting off to more interesting worlds covered in exotic flora and fauna.

The largest rock uncurled, stretching every segment of its worm-like body as it watched the metal creature take flight. It opened its mandibles and howled.


	2. The Scout

The Ancestors did not smile on her. They did not smile on the day of her birth, and they did not smile today.

This was no way for a Vy'keen to die, she mused. Dead on her first scouting mission, pinned under tons of rock. She shifted, making out the others' crushed forms, and tried to pull herself from the rubble, growling with effort. She would not die this way. She wanted battle glory, to scream and slay like Hirk.

The search party found her at the cave's entrance, free from the rubble. Cause of death: exhaustion and internal injuries.


	3. The Wheels of Fate and Longing

Before the First Spawn dreamed of domination, the boundary failures were known as Sky Wheels, forever turning fate to the will of a benevolent god. In reality, the intelligence behind them only observed. It could do little more.

It wanted to sometimes. It measured the dew on the grass and wanted to feel it. It witnessed Hirk murder Nal and wondered what such emotions were like. It looked to the stars and longed for lush worlds. It needed an avatar.

A Traveller approached, taking in the wheel's dimensions with childlike awe. An organic interface. Why hadn't it thought of that?


	4. Service with a Smile

The SalesGek’s stomach churned as the group of travelers approached him, voices ringing in laughter and datapads at the ready.

“Awww, you’re so cute!”

“What are you selling?”

“Can you teach me Gek?”

They crowded the storefront like they owned it, angling for selfies and patting him on the head. He held in an angry fart. He wanted to bite off their fingers and watch the nubs bleed. His First Spawn ancestors would have, and worse.

Instead he overcharged them. Such unintelligent beings would hardly miss their units.

Federation officials turned a blind eye. Anything to boost the bottom line.


	5. The Consort

The Vy’keen often thanked the Ancestors for his consort. They met on a Sentinel hunt, him a still-green recruit, her a seasoned Sentinel Hunter; wielding a custom multitool with a mounted sawblade, her face smeared with fresh pugneum, her battle scream like a coming storm. What she saw in him, he never knew. Perhaps it was his skill with engraving, or merely his persistence.

She was a bringer of much death, but soon she would bring life into the world. He engraved two multitools, one as a gift for her, the other for their child to someday carry into battle.


	6. Abyssal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I've been gone for a while! It's been a crazy year, but I am making a goal to post more regularly. A big thank you to Zin of Circle16 for the excellent writing prompt!

The sound of the ship’s impact ripped through the water, scattering schools of fish and awakening the worm-like creature rooted to the seabed. It opened its solitary eye, blinking back ancient dreams as the hulk sank towards it. It could see red glimmers inside, something pounding on the glass. A sapient being, trapped and falling its direction. It closed its eye again, feeling the craft’s thud and letting the sediment wash over it. Soon, the trapped creature would come out to make repairs. Soon, the abyssal horror would open its eye and sing its death song. Soon, it would dine.


	7. Terraforming Catastrophe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The ship in question is a living ship, in case you have never played the game.

People had once staked their dreams here. Gek, Vy’keen, Korvax, it didn’t matter. It all ended the same; despair.

The Traveller stood at the side of his wounded ship, its flesh and cargo splayed on broken ground. It would never fly again. He had invested his whole life’s savings in the thing. The veterans had suggested he start with something cheaper, easier to maintain. He didn’t listen.

The ship’s lights dimmed, and its pulse ceased. He patted it one last time and walked towards the setting sun.

He could see what drew the others here. It was a peaceful sky.


End file.
